Battle of Krbava Field

Battle of Krbava Field
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe
Hundred Years' Croatian-Ottoman War

Der Crabaten slacht, from Weisskunig[1]
Date9 September 1493
Location
Krbava field, Kingdom of Croatia 44°36′N 15°42′E / 44.6°N 15.7°E / 44.6; 15.7
Result Ottoman victory[2]
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Croatia
Commanders and leaders
Hadım Yakup Pasha of Bosnia
Ismail Bey of Alaca Hisar
Mehmed Bey of Üsküp		 Emerik Derenčin Executed
Bernardin Frankopan
Ivan Frankopan Cetinski †
Nikola VI Frankopan
Franjo Berislavić
Petar II Zrinski †
Strength
8,000[3]–10,000[4] light cavalry 2,000[5]–3,000[4] cavalry
8,000[4] infantry
Casualties and losses
1,000[6] killed 5,000[6]–7,000[5] killed
1,500[4] imprisoned
Battlefield as seen from Udbina Castle

The Battle of Krbava Field (Croatian: Bitka na Krbavskom polju, Krbavska bitka; Hungarian: Korbávmezei csata; Turkish: Krbava Muharebesi) was fought between the Ottoman Empire of Bayezid II and an army of the Kingdom of Croatia, at the time in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary, on 9 September 1493, in the Krbava field, a part of the Lika region in Croatia.[7]

The Ottoman forces were under the command of Hadım Yakup Pasha, sanjak-bey of the Sanjak of Bosnia, and the Croatian army was led by Emerik Derenčin, ban of Croatia, who served under King Vladislaus II Jagiello. Earlier in the summer of 1493, the Ottomans undertook a raid through Croatia into Carniola and Styria. Around the same time, clashes had been raging in Croatia between the House of Frankopan and the Croatian ban, but news of the Ottoman incursion forced them to make peace. The Croatian nobles assembled a large army and intercepted the Ottoman forces that were returning to the Sanjak of Bosnia. Poor tactics, and the choice of an open battle done by ban Derenčin against more experienced Ottoman cavalry, resulted in the total defeat of the Croatian army.

There were no immediate territorial gains for the Ottoman Empire, but in the following decades the Ottomans gradually expanded into southern Croatia.

  1. ^ "Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses (ab 1919 Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien): Der Weisskunig — Wien, 6.1888". Heidelberg historic literature – digitized. University of Heidelberg. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  2. ^ Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture By Richard C. Frucht, p. 422
  3. ^ Klaić 1988, p. 228.
  4. ^ a b c d Klaić 1988, p. 231.
  5. ^ a b Mijatović 2005, p. 99.
  6. ^ a b Pavličević 1997, p. 77.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference HE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).